Iran: Release Four Women Detained at Labor Day Protest
From left to right: Marzieh Amiri, Atefeh Rangriz, Neda Naji, and Anisha Asadollahi. Four women ...
Unfair Trials
Two Political Prisoners Sentenced to 3.7 More Years in Jail for Protesting Death Penalty
Atena Daemi Illegally Denied Visits Since March 2019 Political prisoners Atena Daemi and Golrokh Iraee Ebrahimi have been told they must serve an additional 3.7 years in prison for the charges of “insulting the supreme leader” and “propaganda against the state,” Daemi’s mother informed the ...
Mass Hunger Strike Launched in Evin Prison Against Unlawful Treatment of Political Prisoners
In an open letter calling on the people of Iran to support their demands, six political prisoners in Ward 4 of Tehran’s Evin Prison have announced that they’ve gone on hunger strike to protest the judiciary’s treatment of political prisoners. The undated letter was posted July 14, ...
Jailed British Council Employee Says She Rejected “Explicit Invitation” to Spy for Iran
Aras Amiri is Serving a 10-Year Prison Sentence Says She Was Imprisoned for Association with British Council Was Not Allowed to Use Chosen Lawyer, Only Met Appointed Lawyer Once Calls on Chief Justice ...
Zaghari-Ratcliffe Transferred to Psychiatric Ward, Held Incommunicado
Revolutionary Guards Blocking Outside Contact, Says Free Nazanin Campaign Imprisoned Iranian-British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been held in the psychiatric ward of the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran since July 15, 2019, according ...
Husband and Wife Journalists Hunger Strike to Break “Limbo” of Six-Month Detention
Imprisoned journalists Amirhossein Mohammadifar and Sanaz Allahyari, a married couple, have been on a wet hunger strike since July 4, 2019, in Tehran’s Evin Prison to convince the authorities to allow them to ...
Parliament Faction Links Lacking Accountability to Deaths of Political Prisoners in State Custody
Defense Attorney: Firing Prison Officials Won’t Keep Political Prisoners Safe One month after political prisoner Alireza Shirmohammadali was murdered in the Greater Tehran Central Penitentiary (GTCP) after being unlawfully held in a ward with inmates convicted of violent crimes, two prison officials have been fired while ...
Evin Prison Protesters Receive Suspended Prison Sentences
An Appeals Court upheld 91-day prison sentences against 18 people who were arrested while peacefully protesting outside Evin Prison in Tehran but suspended most of the sentences for three years, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has learned. Suspended sentences operate like bail conditions; ...
Letter: Families Cite Seven Law Violations in Cases of Detained Wildlife Conservationists
Iran’s judiciary has violated at least seven laws in its handling of the cases of eight wildlife conservationists who’ve been detained on unfounded espionage charges since January 2017, according to ...
At Least 40 Detained in Connection With Protests at Ahvaz Sugar Mill
A group of workers of the Hafteh Tappeh sugar mill company in Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, published a list of 40 names of colleagues and supporters who’ve been detained in recent months in connection with ...
Richard Ratcliffe Takes Hunger Strike for Wife’s Freedom to Iran’s Doorstep in London
Dual National Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Has Been Eligible for Release Since 2017 June 18, 2019 – On day four of Richard Ratcliffe’s hunger strike outside the Iranian embassy in London, embassy staff noisily repositioned the metal barriers they’d put up behind him and started sanding ...
Prominent Iranian Activists Speak Out Against Councilman’s Imprisonment
Former Political Prisoners Condemn the Criminalization of Free Speech in Iran A group of prominent political and civil rights activists in Iran has issued a statement condemning the imprisonment of a councilman after he publicly denounced ...
Political Prisoner Stabbed to Death in Tehran Penitentiary Three Months After Protesting Unsafe Conditions
Alireza Shirmohammadali Was Unlawfully Held in Ward With Inmates Convicted of Dangerous Crimes He Had Gone on Hunger Strike Against Unsafe Prison Conditions Three Months Before His Death The 21-Year-Old Was ...
Haft Tappeh Workers Urge International Labor Organization to Investigate Suppression of Labor Protests
*A group of workers in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, have published an open letter calling on the International Labor Organization (ILO) to investigate state suppression of workers' rights protests at the ...
Iran: Release Narges Mohammadi for Medical Treatment Immediately
Rights Activist Remains in Prison with Dangerous Post-Op Infection Husband Reports Mohammadi Is Being Denied Antibiotics June 7, 2019 – The Iranian authorities must immediately transfer prominent human rights activist Narges Mohammadi to ...
“Your Pens Should Be Broken” Journalist Jailed for Social Media Posts
Charged with national security crimes for his social media posts, journalist Masoud Kazemi has been sentenced to 4.5 years in prison, of which he must serve two years (subject ...
Iran: Three Rights Lawyers Sentenced to Lengthy Jail Terms in Less Than a Year
Defense Attorney Imprisoned for Social Media Posts June 5, 2019 – Amirsalar Davoudi has become the third known defense attorney to be sent to prison in Iran for his peaceful activities in less ...
Shiraz City Councilman Begins Serving One-Year Prison Sentence for Advocating Religious Tolerance
“A few hours ago agents came to our house and took away my husband Mehdi Hajati to enforce a one-year prison sentence,” Hajati’s wife Zohreh Rastegari tweeted on June 2, 2019. A member ...
Defense Attorney Lodges Complaint Against Judge Moghiseh’s Lack of Impartiality
“You People Have No Right to Breath,” Judge Allegedly Told Political Prisoner Masoud Kazemi The notoriously hardline judge presiding over the case of former magazine editor Masoud Kazemi has repeatedly expressed hatred toward the political prisoner and refused ...
Judge Moghiseh Accused of Cursing at Magazine Editor During Bail Hearing
The former editor-in-chief of the Sedaye Parsi (Persian Voice) political magazine, Masoud Kazemi, was detained on May 22, 2019, after being unable to post bail, the Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI) has ...
Seven to Face Trial in Connection with Labor Protests
Many Denied Access to Counsel, Families Warned to Stay Quiet After months of unlawful prosecution in connection with workers’ rights protests in southwestern Iran, five journalists and two labor activists are due to go on trial at Branch 15 of the revolutionary court in Tehran presided ...
Iran: Release Political Prisoner Maryam Akbari-Monfared
Behind Bars Unjustly Since 2009, Eligible for Release in 2017 May 20, 2019—Iran must end the cruel and unlawful imprisonment of Maryam Akbari-Monfared, who has already served nearly 10 years ...
Harsh Prison Terms for Three Iranian Authors Who Dared to Criticize the State
Prominent Members of Iranian Writers Association Each Sentenced to Six Years Behind Bars May 17, 2019—In a glaring repudiation of freedom of expression and the right to peaceful dissent, the Iranian judiciary sentenced ...
British Council Employee Aras Amiri Jailed for Refusing to Spy, Says Cousin
Amiri Was Forced to Choose Lawyer from Court-Issued List The UK-based British Council employee Aras Amiri was jailed in Iran for refusing to spy for the country’s Intelligence Ministry, her cousin, Mohsen Omrani, told the ...
Appeals Court Upholds Lengthy Sentence Against Female Activist for Criticizing Chief Justice
Number of Women Political Prisoners Rising in Iran May 13, 2019 – A Tehran appeals court upheld a 7.5-year prison sentence against prominent political activist Hengameh Shahidi based on her social media posts in which she criticized former Chief Justice Sadegh Larijani and demanded a ...